These techniques are based on ancient wisdom and healing practises, but their efficacy and mode of operation are being more clearly understood with advances in neuroscience.
Mindfulness is based on Buddhist meditative practises, and teaches us to pay attention, moment by moment, to what is going on both inside of us and in our surroundings.
Mark Williams, the director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, describes how such practises provides an antidote to the ‘ tunnel vision’ that often occurs when we are stressed. We can often get caught up in our thoughts and feel ‘stuck in our head’ with little awareness of anything outside.

Waking up to our sensory world and to the sights, smells, sounds and tastes around us, can immediately reset our system, connecting us to our physical self, and allowing us to gain some perspective on our thoughts, as well as connecting us to to the wider, more intuitive part of ourselves. Mindfullness used in combination with cognitive therapy is recommended by NICE for the treatment of anxiety and depression.